Hopper car door actuating mechanism



Jan. 23, 1968 E. M. DAMY HOPPER CAR DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM Filed May 178, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent C) 3,364,876 HOPPER CAR DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM Eduardo M. Damy, Apartado Postal 2041, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico Filed May 18, 1965, Ser. No. 456,759 4 Claims. (Cl. 10S- 249) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mechanism for simultaneously opening and closing the doors of opposed discharge chutes of a hopper car including a pair of arms which are pivotally connected to the doors and to each other with the pivotal connection of one of the arms to a door being rotatable to move the arms between afolded position in which the doors are open and an extended position in which the doors are held closed.

This invention relates to railroad hopper cars, and in particular to an improved mechanism for opening and closing the hopper car discharge chute doors.

A primary purpose of the invention is a railroad hopper car discharge chute door mechanism which is extremely simple in construction and does not utilize complicated links, levers and chains.

Another purpose is a hopper car discharge chute opening which may be operated from either side of the car.

Another purpose is a discharge chute door mechanism in which the load in the hopper car and the weight of the doors assist in opening the doors after initial movement of the doors. Y

Another purpose is a discharge chute door mechanism in which the weight of the load in the hopper car and the weight of the doorsl assist in maintaining the doors in their closed position.

Other purposes will appear in the ensuing specification, drawings and claims.

The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the following drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side elevation of a hopper car including a door mechanism of the type described;

FIGURE 2 is a partial top plan View of a hopper car including a door mechanism of the type described with the hopper car and discharge chutes shown in outline and other parts omitted for clarity;

FGURE 3 is a partial side elevational view of a hopper car showing the door mechanism in the open position; and

FIGURE 4 is a partial side elevational view of a hopper car showing a modified form of the door mechanism in the open position.

Referring to FIGURE 1, discharge chutes of a hopper car 9 are generally indicated at 10, and each opens towards the center, that is, the chutes are oppositely disposed. The number of discharge chutes may vary. A chute may eX- tend the width of the car, or there may be a number of chutes located side by side. As shown herein, there are four chutes arranged in side-by-side groupings of two. The remaining structure of the hopper car may be conventional, and forms no part of the present invention.

Each of the chutes 10 may have an opening 11 inclined to the vertical and through which the material from the hopper car is discharged. Each discharge chute may also have sidewalls 12, and a slanted bottom wall 13, which defines the lower edge of the opening 11.

A door 14 is provided to close each of the chute openings 11. Hinges 15 pivotally mount the doors 14 along the upper edge of each of the chutes. An outwardly extending bracket 16 is attached to the outer face of each door 14 near the lower edge thereof. A pair of arms 17 and 18 pivotally connected end-to-end are positioned between 3,364,876 Patented Jan. 23, 1968 each set of oppositely disposed doors with each arm also pivotally connected to a bracket 16 on one of the doors. When the doors are in their closed positions, the arms extend in a generally horizontal plane and when the doors are open the arms will be folded upwardly.

In this construction, the arms are of diierent lengths, with the arms 17 being longer than the arms 18. The pivotal connections of the arms 17 and 18 with their respective brackets are designated as 19 and 20 and the pivotal connection between the arms is designated as 21.

Each of the arms 17 and 18 may be constructed of a pair of horizontally spaced plates, designated as 22 in arm 17 and 23 in arm 18. The pivotal connection 21 between these arms includes a pin 24 journalled in the overlapping portions of the plates 22 and 23 at 25 and 26. The pivotal journals 25 and 26 are located in the lower portions of the plates 22 and 23 so as to locate the pivot pin 24 slightly below the pivotal connections 19 and 20 of the arms with the brackets 16 when the arms are horizontal. To prevent the arms from beingrotated below the horizontal door closing position, stop bars 27 and 28 are fastened respectively to arms 17 and 18 and positioned thereon so as to abut the ends of the plates of the opposite arms when the arms reach this horizontal position. To

maintain the sets of plates 22 and 23 in a proper spaced relationship at their connection to the pivot pin 24, a spacer in the form of a sleeve 29 can be slipped over the pivot pin. The length of this sleeve is equal to the spacing desired between the plates 23 making up the arm 18.

The pivotal connection 20 between the shorter arm 18 of each set of oppositely disposed doors and its bracket 16 includes members 31 which are made up of sleeves 32 formed integrally with flat plates 33. These flat plates are adapted to be fastened to the brackets 16 by welding or other suitable means. An elongated rod 34 is journalled in the sleeves 32 and is fastened to the spaced plates 23 which make up the arm 18 for rotation therewith. As shown in FIGURE 2, this rod 32 extends across the width of the hopper car and is journalled in the sleeves of adjacent doors and fastened to the arms of both doors so that the doors of both sets of hoppers can be opened at one time. If individual operation of each set of oppositely disposed doorsA is desired, a separate and shorter rod 34 can be constructed for each set of doors.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, three members 31 are utilized in each pivotal connection 20 with one member being located between the spaced plates 23 and the other members being located on the outside of one of these plates. An eye 35 is formed in a flattened portion 36 at each end of the rod 34. These eyes are adapted to receive an elongated operating rod (not shown) which is used to rotate this rod and its attached arms 18 to open the discharge chutes.

The pivotal connections 19 which fasten the longer arms 17 to their respective vbrackets 16 of the doors 14 are made of a plurality of members 38 similar in construction to the previously described members 31. Each member 38 includes al sleeve 39 formed integrally with a flat plate 40 which is adapted to be fastened to a bracket 16. As in the previously described pivotal connections 20, three members 38 are utilized for each door with the one member positioned vbetween the spaced plates 22 and the others each located outwardly of one of theselpla'tes. A separate elongated rod 41 is journalled in the sleeve 39 of each door and this rod is rigidly fastened to the plates 22 to act as a pivot pin for the arm 17.

Many hopper cars include -a transverse structural beam 42 which is centrally located between the hopper car doors 14. This beam is generally of greater depth at the center of the car and is tapered to lesser depths at the sides of the car. If the pivotal connection 21 between the arms 17 and 18 were located along the center line between the hopper doors, the arms might contact this beam during upward movement and prevent the doors from opening completely. For this reason one arm,"in this case arm 18, is made shorter than the other arm 17 so as to locatethe pivotal connection to one side of the beam. As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, this oi-center location of the pivotal axis 21 permits the arms to fold to their fully opened position without contacting this beam. f

A modified form of the invention is shown in FIG- URE 4 in which the door opening and closing mechanism is adapted to a hopper car 9 in which discharge chutes 10 are spaced farther apart lthan the discharge chutes 10 of hopper car 9. This modified mechanism diers from that previously described only in that the longer legs 17' are of greater length than the longer legs 17 of the iirst described mechanism. The remaining components of this modified mechanism are similar to those described in the preferred form of the invention and are indicated in this iigure by the same numbers.

'I'he use, operation and function of this invention are as follows:

The door opening and closing mechanism of my invention has the advantages of simplicity of construction along with positive locking and automatic hold-open features. When the doors 14 are closed against the openings 11, the arms 17 and 18 extend end-to-end in a generally horizontal position. In this closed position, the common pivotal connection 21 of these arms is located below the pivotal connections of the arms to their respective doors at 19 -and 20. With this arrangement of pivotal axes, the forces exerted on the doors by the material in the hopper and thransmitted to the arms 17 and 18 exert downward forces on the pivot pin 24. Downward movement of the pivot pin 24 in response to these forces is prevented by abutment of the ends of the plates 22 and 23, which comprise the arms 17 and 18, with the stop bars 27 land 28 attached to these arms. As a result, the forces exerted by the material in the hopper car tend to maintain the mechanism in its closed position.

The doors 14 may be opened by moving the pivot pin 24 upwardly to permit the arms 17 and 18 to fold about the pivotal connection 21. As soon as the pivot pin 24 is moved above the horizontal plane extending through the pivotal connections 19 and 20 of the doors, the forces exerted on the doors and through the arms 17 and 18 by the material in the hopper will exert upward forces on the pivot pin 24 and accelerate and assist in moving the doors to their fully open position. Therefore, to open the doors it is only necessary to raise the pivot pin 24 from its location beneath the plane through the pivotal connections 19 and 20 of the door to a location slightly above this plane.

The pivot pin 24 may be moved from its closed position to a position above the plane extending between the door pivotal connections 19 and 20 by rotating the shorter arm 18 about its pivotal axis 20. This is accomplished by rotating the elongated pivot rod 34 which forms the pivotal axis and is aixed to the ends of the bars 23 forming the arm 1-8. Rotation of this rod in its sleeves 32 is accomplished by the use of an elongated bar (not shown) which may be inserted in an eye 35 in an end portion 36 of this bar. In opening the doors it is only necessary to rotate this rod a small angular distance until the arm 18 lifts the pivot rod 24 above the horizontal plane through the door pivot connections 19 and 20. After the pivot pin reaches this elevation the doors will continue to move to their open position due to the weight of the doors.

The closing of the doors may be accomplished by rota tion of the rod 34 in a direction opposite tothat used for opening the doors. Rotation-of thisrod in a counterclockwise direction as seen in FIGURE 3 will rotate the 5 arm 18 which in turn will move the pivotal pin 24 downwardly until the ends of the plates 22 and 23 abut the stop bars 27 and 28. At this position, the pivot pin'24 will be located beneath the pivotal connections 19 and 20, and as previously described, the weight of the doors will keep the arms in the locked position.

The invention should not be limited to any particular type of hopper car, or to any particular number of chutes. There may be a single chute running the entire width of this car, or there may be sever-al chutes in alignment as shown in these drawings. K

Whereas the preferred formof the invention has been shown and described herein, it should be realized that there are many modifications, substitutions and alterations thereto within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a railway hopper car, in combination with a car body, a hopper, a pair of oppositely disposed discharge chutes 4at the bottom of the hopper, each discharge chute having an opening inclined to the vertical, a Adoor for closing each discharge chute, each door being hinged to its discharge chute along the upper edge thereof to swing towards the other door upon opening, and means for simultaneously opening and closing said doors, including:

(a) a pair of arms,

(b) each arm having one end pivotally connected to a respective one of said doors, and an opposite end pivotally connected to the other arm, with said arms being generally horizontally disposed in their extended position relative to each other when the doors are closed,

(c) the pivotal connection of one of said arms -to one of said doors including a pivot rod rigidly connected to said arm and journal elements for said pivot rod secured to said door,

(d) means at one end of said pivot rod for rotating said rod and said attached arm to raise the pivotal connection between the arms to open said doors and to lower the pivotal connection between the arms to close said doors, and

(e) a stop on one of said arms adapted to contact the other arm to prevent rotation of said arms below said generally horizontal position.

2. The structure of claim 1 further characterized in that said means for rotating said pivot rod includes an eye formed in said pivot rod at the end thereof and adapted to receive an elongated bar.

3. The structure of claim 2 further characterized in that the arm having said pivot rod attached thereto is shorter than said other arm.

4. The structure of claim 1 further characterized in that an eye is formed in each end of said pivot rod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner. H. BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner, 

